Oil Tops $100 as Bond Yields Rise, Raising Risk of 7% Mortgage Rates in South Korea Rising geopolitical tensions in the Middle East pushed international oil prices above $100 a barrel, adding to upward pressure on market interest rates. If bond yields keep climbing, some analysts say mortgage rates could top 7%. As of the 9th, the five major commercial banks — KB Kookmin, Shinhan, Hana, Woori and NH NongHyup — were offering five-year fixed (hybrid) mortgage rates of 4.14% to 6.74%, according to the banking sector. Compared with early this year’s 3.94% to 6.24%, the top e March 9, 2026

LIV Golf Korea 2026 to be held May 28-31 at Busan’s Asiad CC LIV Golf said Monday it will stage “LIV Golf Korea 2026” from May 28-31 at Asiad CC in Busan. Backed by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, LIV Golf launched in 2022 and held LIV Golf Korea for the first time last year at Jack Nicklaus Golf Club Korea in Incheon. The event drew about 35,000 spectators over three days, organizers said. This year’s tournament will move to Busan under a multiyear agreement with Asiad CC. LIV Golf CEO Scott O’Neil called the return to South Korea March 9, 2026

Daewoong Sees Early Signal for UDCA in Long COVID; Celltrion, Lotte Bio, JW, Hugel Updates Daewoong Pharmaceutical says UDCA shows improvement signal in early long COVID patients Daewoong Pharmaceutical said Monday that ursodeoxycholic acid, or UDCA, the main ingredient in its Urusa product, showed an improvement signal among long COVID patients who were 2 to 6 months past infection. The findings were posted online March 3, Eastern time, in the journal Annals of Internal Medicine. In that 2-to-6-month group, 81.6% of patients receiving UDCA showed symptom improvement, signif March 9, 2026

Banks Vie for Seoul’s 55 Trillion Won Treasury Account as Shinhan Defends Lead Seoul’s selection of a bank to manage its treasury — a pool of funds totaling 55.2493 trillion won a year — is expected to trigger intensified competition among major commercial banks. According to the financial sector on Monday, the Seoul Metropolitan Government plans to post a bid notice for the city treasury as early as next month. With the review process expected to take about a week, the final operator is likely to be chosen within April. Seoul’s total budget this year (general acc March 9, 2026

Korea Drugmakers Warn Proposed Price Cuts Could Hit R&D; Rate Set to Be Key South Korea’s push to cut drug prices to reduce national health insurance spending is sharpening anxiety across the pharmaceutical industry. Companies say a government-driven cut could weaken incentives to invest in research and development for new medicines, and leave smaller firms weighing survival options. With the government and industry still far apart on how deep the cuts should be, attention is turning to upcoming talks at the Health Insurance Policy Deliberation Committee, kn March 9, 2026

South Korea watchdog to tighten checks on banks’ sales of high-risk products The Financial Supervisory Service said it will strengthen oversight of banks’ sales of complex, high-risk financial products and will deploy a separate financial consumer protection inspection team during regular examinations. The move is aimed at tightening controls on the sale of high-risk products at bank counters after a mis-selling scandal involving equity-linked securities tied to Hong Kong’s H Index. The FSS announced the plan on 9 at its “2026 banking sector financial supervisio March 9, 2026

Korean Film 'The Owner of the World' Invited to Beijing International Film Festival The film 'The Owner of the World' has been officially invited to the Panorama section of the 16th Beijing International Film Festival. According to the film’s representatives, it was selected for the Panorama lineup of the festival, which runs from April 16 to 25. Launched in 2011, the Beijing International Film Festival is one of China’s leading international film events, along with the Shanghai International Film Festival. The festival praised the film, saying it “densely portrays gir March 9, 2026

South Korea’s Cheongung-II Air Defense Missile Gains Combat Credibility in UAE Modern warfare is shifting toward unmanned systems such as drones and missiles, increasing the importance of missile-based air defenses. As conflicts increasingly begin with missile launches — a so-called “button war” — competition is intensifying to counter missiles with missiles. ◆Cheongung-II said to have intercepted Iranian missiles, proving capability in the Middle East Industry officials said Monday that South Korea’s Cheongung-II, a medium-range surface-to-air missile deployed in March 9, 2026

NH NongHyup Bank CEO Kang Tae-young visits AgTech firm Davio to discuss growth NH NongHyup Bank said on the 9th that CEO Kang Tae-young visited the headquarters of Davio, a spatial data and agricultural technology company, to review the growth of a firm backed by the bank’s agri-food fund and discuss ways to support it. Davio, founded in 2012, runs a smart agriculture monitoring business based on spatial data and artificial intelligence technology. The company is expanding its business areas with investment from NongHyup Bank’s agri-food fund. NongHyup Bank said it March 9, 2026

New Books: 'Venturenomics' Urges Shift From Real Estate to Startups in South Korea Venturenomics=By Kim Gi-yeong, Jium Media. The author says South Korea’s economy is confronting a “trilemma” of real estate dependence, a low birthrate and U.S.-China tensions, and argues the country must break through with innovation. He writes that “the Republic of Korea’s runway is rapidly getting shorter.” In startup terms, “runway” means how long cash reserves can sustain survival. Without innovation, he warns, the national “aircraft” could fail to take off. As what he calls the only March 9, 2026